The invention pertains to buoyant life-saving devices of the type adapted to be thrown to a swimmer requiring aid.
Life-saving devices such as rings and floats are frequently carried upon watercraft and located at beaches and swimming pools for the purpose of aiding swimmers encountering difficulty. Such life-saving devices normally consist of a buoyant member adapted to be grasped by the swimmer. The buoyant members often include means defined thereon, such as handles or ropes, which may be easily grasped.
The most common type of life-saver of the aforementioned type is of a flattened ring configuration often having rope handles affixed to the periphery thereof. The device is usually employed by throwing the same in the vicinity of the swimmer but such devices have the disadvantage of being awkward to handle and are difficult to accurately throw and, when thrown a considerable distance, have a tendency to "kite" or sail, making it very difficult to accurately throw the life-saver in the desired direction.
This type of life-saver also has the disadvantage of being relatively difficult to grasp, particularly by children, as the handles are not readily grasped and ones arm must usually be inserted over the life-saver body through the inner hole and in the state of panic or hysteria of many swimmers encountering difficulty, the effective grasping of the life-saver is uncertain. Also such devices are rigid and hard and may strike and injure the swimmer.
Several life-saver constructions are known which use a loose web with a buoyant member, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,817,860; 3,176,327 and 3,421,165. However, these devices do not overcome all the aforementioned problems.
British Pat. No. 207,758 also discloses a life-saver constituting a buoyant ball having rope arms to facilitate grasping and while this device may be thrown relatively accurately, grasping is somewhat difficult and deficiencies are present.